Dominant Faith

an alternative to popular belief

What is religion in this new day and age? Is it a way to happiness? Is it a social construct driven towards judicial control? Or is it simply the fear of the unknown? These are all questions I believe we ask ourselves, and questions that aren’t answered in our normative religions. Alternative religions attempt to answer this question in as best a way as possible. There are, of course, many different types of alternative religions, because what is a religion other than someone’s interpretation of some holy work? One such alternative religion is Satanism, and like every religion, there is not just one Satanism. A modern Satanic religion/belief system is Anton Szandor LaVey’s Satanism which derives from his heavily frowned upon yet informative book, “The Satanic Bible.” In modern times and even more so in the past, books such as LaVey’s bible bring up Christian fundamental concerns and fears of heretical views, however, major religious groups tend to miss the actual message of alternative religions, especially “The Satanic Bible.” For instance, LaVey’s book is not at all about the worship of Satan, or the following of any cult, but rather a method of breaking away from the guilt-ridden religions that plague human happiness.

The philosophy behind The Satanic Bible has little to do with the actual Satan, rather he takes the attributes associated with “Satan” or “Lucifer,” like doing things for yourself, and indulging in the carnal pleasures of the body, not only indulge yourselves, but use them as a sort of spiritual release. Many things that our current culture does are considered “evil”, or “sinful” or “acts of Satan.” LaVey only seeks to allow these and to thrive upon these so called “sins.” While he does talk about ritual and the Christian fear of so called “satanic rituals,” the truth is, that every major structure of the human culture revolves around ritual, if this philosophy of LaVey’s was to work and cohere to our culture he needed to include a ritualistic side to it. This can be said for almost any sort of activity. Whether it is a sport, a job, or a place to eat, all these have some form of ritual involved; even the act of smoking a cigarette is a ritual.

Other religions such as Wicca or many goddess religions are also seen as evil, yet are in reality worshiping mother earth as a goddess and living a life of good and natural knowledge in order to keep the flows of life going. These are not religions that focus on a monastic god, a male god or a female god, but rather the personal connection with nature and god. These misinterpreted alternative religions are seen more as evil cult worship then what they really are: the next step in personalized religion in our modern times.

While alternative religions are becoming more and more popular, so too does the religious culture start to become more open minded and ready to accept more modern thoughts into what is considered spiritual or not. Soon our “Christian Nation” will finally achieve the status it originally intended, that of separation of church and state.

By DanIel potes